The Manchester United striker wore the armband for the Three Lions' 5-0 World Cup qualification win over San Marino on Friday, and hopes it is not the last time he gets to lead out his country in an international match.

"If you can get the opportunity to captain your country, it's something which I think - as a player - you need to grab with both hands," Rooney said. "In the future, hopefully that'll happen but, at the minute, Steven's our captain and he'll lead by example for us."

He added: "To actually lead a team out, you look up, you see the crowd and - the atmosphere - it's quite a feeling.

"To captain your country at Wembley is the greatest honour you can have. It's something that, as a young boy, you dream of and to actually do it is a great honour for me something which I'll take and cherish for the rest of my life."

Rooney was on the scoresheet twice in the regulation triumph against the European minnows, moving him into fifth on the list of all-time top scorers for England with 31. He hopes there will be many more to come, however, with Bobby Charlton's record of 49 goals understandably within his sights.

"I'm extremely proud to be in England's top five scorers," Rooney said. "But I am only 26 and I hope I can score a lot more."

At the other end of the spectrum, winger Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain fired past San Marino goalkeeper Aldo Simoncini to notch his first goal for the senior side. The Arsenal player revealed afterwards that his father, also an England international, had been impressing upon him the need to get a goal for his country.

"It's a relief to get the monkey off my back, as they say," Oxlade-Chamberlain noted. "I have been looking for my first goal for England and my dad's been pushing me, telling me I needed a goal."